Turkey’s Energy Minister suspended by engineer colleagues over mining disaster

Aysel Alp ISTANBUL

AA Photo

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız, an electrical engineer by profession, has been suspended by his colleagues in the Chamber of Energy Engineers (EMO) over his role in Turkey’s worst-ever mining tragedy last year.

The EMO suspended Yıldız for six months for his “attitude and acts related to his profession” during and after the Soma disaster, in which 301 miners died in May 2014.

The chamber’s Higher Honor Council approved the decision last month, which is yet to be officially communicated to Yıldız, who has the legal right to oppose it at court.

The statement released by the EMO accused Yıldız of “humiliating the profession and his colleagues by not using his knowledge and experience accordingly and by causing negative consequences for society and the environment.”

Yıldız, who is a graduate of Istanbul Technical University’s Electrical Engineering department, was the leading figure during the government’s search and rescue efforts in the immediate aftermath of the Soma mining disaster.

The EMO described the disaster as “an accident at the grade of murder.”